Graeme Stone is a writer living in Los Angeles. This is his column on the publishing business from a beginner's view.
To learn more about him, go to www.graemestone.com.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Egads! the Research to find an Agent!

Ok,

Since I only had three agents on my list, I went to Writers Market.com and did a search for all the agencies that handle gay material (and thrillers, mysteries, novels, and YA).

There are 12 agencies on that list.Of those, 1 has already sent in a rejection.Two agents I found on my own are also not on the list.That leaves 14 possible avenues.

Most agencies list what material they've sold recently (some of it so recent, it does not come up on Google searches), and the authors they represent.

By looking at the authors they represent, and then in turn, those authors' books, I can get an idea of how good a match these agents might be.

Egads that's a lot of clickin' and mousin' and huntin' and peckin'. But I think it's the only way. The confidence that I gain in approaching an agent with some knowledge is well worth it. Plus, once I get an agent, think of all the free time I'll have.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my preliminary query letter. All the feedback really helped make it the best it can be. Now the material has to stand on its own.

1 comment:

Sounds like a lot of work, but it must be pretty refreshing to know you're at least at that point. One thing I've come across in the little bit of research that I've done about agents is that, while they may want to represent multiple works in the same genre, they don't like to represent works that are so similar that they would be direct competition with one another. At least, that's how Firebrand works, so I would imagine most agencies are similar. Just a slight word of caution as you go out questing for agents who represent similar works. I think you want similar, but not TOO similar.